


When the Past Only Echoes

by flipflop_diva



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Friendship, Gen, Minor Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-07 13:02:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4264197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was only one place Steve had in mind when he realized he and Natasha needed a safe place to hide out. But he never would have guessed the surprise that was waiting for him on the other side of the door. A slight AU version of some of the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the Past Only Echoes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [galfridian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/galfridian/gifts).



> I've never really written Sharon before, so this was a fun challenge. You had some amazing prompts, and I'm not sure I actually did any of them justice, but I hope you like it anyway!

He knew there was something Natasha wasn’t telling him, but then, there was always something Natasha wasn’t telling him. He didn’t know why his brain still insisted on being surprised when she kept something from him.

But he did need to know.

She was staring out the window as they drove, her phone GPS activated and in her lap. But the stretch of road they were on now wasn’t changing anytime soon.

“Hey, Natasha?” Steve called softly. He waited until she turned her head to look at him. “You knew, right?” he said. “That Kate was really a SHIELD agent. That she was sent to keep an eye on me.”

Natasha didn’t answer, and her expression didn’t change, that same calm, collected stare she always had as she looked at him. He took that as answer enough.

“What’s her real name?” he asked her instead.

“Sharon,” she said.

“How long have you know her?”

He saw her shrug out of the corner of his eye. “Awhile,” she finally said. “I didn’t really pay attention to who I met for the longest time.”

He nodded. “You trust her?”

He saw her eyes narrow. “Are you asking me this because you want to bring her in, or are you asking me this because you want to date her? Because if you want to date her …”

“I don’t.”

“So you want to …?”

“She was there. I just want to know.”

Natasha seemed to accept that as an answer. She nodded, pursing her lips, looking almost thoughtful. Then she shrugged again. “I don’t have a reason not to trust her,” she said.

She turned her head to look back out the window. Steve figured that was the best answer he was going to get.

•••

There was only one person in Steve’s mind when he realized they needed somewhere to hide out. They couldn’t go to anyone else at SHIELD, and Tony was too far away (if Hydra wasn’t already trying to bug Stark Industries), and Natasha was too hurt to just try to keep running on their own. (Well, she probably wouldn’t agree with that, Steve figured, but he was still the team leader, technically, and he was not about to let her die or injure herself more on his watch.)

He also sort of had a feeling that Sam Wilson was not the type of guy to turn him down. What he didn’t expect, though, was for a very familiar blond girl to answer the door at their knock.

Steve stared at her almost dumbfounded, his mouth literally hanging open, but Kate — _Sharon_ — just smiled at him like she had been waiting for them for hours. He glanced to his side to look at Natasha, who was leaning against him. She didn’t look exactly surprised to see Sharon but the way she was blinking more than normal told Steve she hadn’t actually expected it either.

He wondered if it was a trap, if they should run, if there was even time to get away, if Natasha could make it …

“You probably don’t want to stand out in the open,” Sharon said before he could make a decision. “You never know who’s watching.” She opened the door and gestured them inside.

Steve glanced again at Natasha, but she was staring at Sharon like she was trying to uncover answers to the great mysteries of life. Whatever she was looking for, though, she must have found, because she nodded once and slipped past Sharon to head inside.

Steve followed her.

They were in Sam Wilson’s kitchen. Or at least Steve assumed it was Sam’s kitchen because it was the address Sam had given him a few days back when he’d invited Steve to hang out for beers one evening, not to mention that Sam was sitting at the table.

“I didn’t expect to see you guys,” Sam said, grinning despite the situation and standing up, quickly pulling out a chair for Natasha. She sank into it, looking almost grateful. Steve just stared, turning his head from Sam to Sharon and back again.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “Are you ….” He pointed to Sam. “ … with SHIELD?”

“Oh, no,” Sam said quickly.

“No,” Sharon said almost at the same time. “We met a few years back when I volunteered with the VA. We’re just friends. And when Sam mentioned the other day he had met you, I just thought … well, once I knew what happened, I kind of thought maybe you would come here.”

Steve ran his hand over his face, trying to take this all in. Natasha didn’t say a word, but she also didn’t look like she found any of this out of the ordinary.

“So you knew she was SHIELD?” Steve said to Sam, gesturing to Sharon.

“Yes,” he said.

“And you knew she was assigned to me?”

“No,” Sam said quickly. “Oh, no. No. If you think … No. I did not know. I knew no details. We did not discuss work details. Not ever, not …”

“Not till this morning when I told him,” Sharon finished.

Now Natasha looked up. She leaned back in her seat and stared at Sharon. “And you told him this morning why?”

“Because I knew Steve was in trouble,” she said, almost as if that explained it.

“And you wanted to help him?” 

“Of course.”

Natasha frowned. “Why of course?” she said. “No one else in SHIELD seems inclined to think we’re the good guys.”

“I’m not just anyone else in SHIELD,” Sharon answered. She looked at Steve when she said it, but it was Natasha’s brow that rose. Steve saw her shoulders tense slightly, and Steve had a feeling she was on the verge of tackling the other woman if she thought there might be a reason to.

On instinct Steve moved toward her, putting a hand on her shoulder, trying to let her know he had this. He almost expected Nat to shrug it off, but she didn’t.

“Who are you then, Sharon?” Steve said softly. “What aren’t you telling us?”

The blonde took a deep breath. Steve saw her shoulders square slightly. “I think you know someone close to me,” she started. Her voice was calm and slow. “My name — my full name — is Sharon Carter.” 

Steve’s eyes widened. 

“I’m Peggy Carter’s great niece.”

•••

Steve held the photo Sharon had just given him in his hands, turning it over and over, re-reading the inscription and re-looking at the image he had already committed to memory. 

It was the Peggy he remembered, just a little older, a little more gray. She was standing in what looked like Central Park, a very small little girl with blonde pigtails clutching her hand, holding an ice cream cone and grinning widely.

 _Sharon & Peggy_, it said on the back of the photo in Peggy’s flowery scroll that Steve would have recognized anywhere.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” Sharon said now. They were sitting side-by-side in Sam’s kitchen while Natasha showered and Sam was off on a “very long run,” as he’d put it. Sharon continued. “Aunt Peggy thought maybe it was better if I didn’t tell you until you were more adjusted — she thought it could just hurt you to know more about her life after you, at least for awhile — and then right about the time I was thinking I should introduce myself, Fury called me in and gave me the assignment to guard you and I couldn’t tell you then.”

“Yeah,” Steve said. “I get that.” He was tempted to ask her why she said yes, if it meant she had to keep her secret longer, but he didn’t. If she were anything like Peggy, she was a good SHIELD agent, and good agents did what they were asked, no matter the personal cost.

“I really am sorry,” Sharon repeated. 

“I know,” Steve said, and he did. He didn’t know this woman sitting beside him, not really, but he felt like he did. Her posture, her confidence, the way she spoke. Now that he knew, it was all so obvious. 

In a weird way, sitting next to her, listening her talk, it made him feel closer to Peggy than he had in a long while. It was like getting a piece of her back, a piece he had thought was gone forever. He thought he could spend hours just talking with Sharon, getting to know her, hearing stories about her life, about her time spent with her great aunt.

And maybe he could. Maybe one day he could ask her all the questions that were whirling through his mind. But not right now. Not where there were more important matters.

He put the picture he had still been holding down on the table and turned fully to Sharon. “There is so much I want to say to you and to ask you,” he said. “But that’s going to have to wait. Right now, I just need to know if you can help us.”

Sharon smiled. “Yes,” she said. “I can.”

“Are you sure? Pretty sure everyone we know is trying to kill us.”

Sharon reached for his hand. Her fingers were warm as they curled around his. “Not everyone,” she said. “And there’s something about Sam you don’t know either.”

“Great,” Steve said. “Another secret.”

“It’s a good one,” Sharon said. “I promise.”

•••

Steve looked up a Sam, almost too numb from all these shocks to even be surprised anymore. “I thought you said you were a pilot?”

Sam smiled. “I never said pilot.”

Steve looked back down at the files in his hands, the photos, the documents. “I can’t ask you to do this. You got out for a good reason.”

“Dude, Captain America needs my help. There is no better reason to get back in.”

Behind Sam, Sharon nodded her agreement. Steve wondered if the two of them had discussed this. Probably, he decided. He glanced down at the files again. Sam seemed set, and there really was no good reason to refuse help.

“Where can we get our hands on one of these things?”

“Last one is at Fort Mead. Behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall.” Sam looked grim.

Steve turned to glance at Natasha. She shrugged and shook her head, her expression almost amused. That was baby play to her.

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Steve said. He dropped the file. “Natasha, you and Sharon go get us that suit. Sam and I will stay here and map out the rest of the plan.”

“Sounds good,” Sharon said. Sam nodded. Natasha smirked.

“Are you sure you and Sharon shouldn’t go?” she teased. “It could be your first real date.”

“Natasha!” 

She beamed at him. He shook his head at her. “Go get dressed,” he told her. He could hear her laughing all the way down the hall.

Steve turned to Sharon, who was watching him with a very amused expression on her face. He felt the heat flood his cheeks.

“Sorry about her,” he said quietly. “She thinks she’s funny.”

Sharon laughed. “No,” she said. “She likes you.”

Steve stared at her. For a second he felt more flabbergasted than he had all morning, which was saying a lot. “No,” he finally said, and Sharon laughed again.

“My aunt always said you could be a little naïve, especially when it came to women. I guess she was right.”

Steve frowned. “That’s not very nice.”

“She meant it as a compliment.”

“I’m sure.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure I should ask what other things she told you about me.”

“I’m not sure I should answer if you do ask.”

Steve laughed as Sharon smiled and Sam shook his head at the two of them.

“It’s going to be fun getting to know you,” Steve said, turning serious once their laughter died down.

“Yeah,” Sharon said. She stood up and walked over to him, then unexpectedly slipped her arms around him. Steve pulled her against him, this woman who was still a stranger but yet so much more than that. “It sure will be.”

“Ooooohhhhh,” came a drawl from behind them.

They moved apart and Steve just shook his head. The look of pride on Natasha’s face was almost too much.

“Don’t even,” Steve said. “I just learned something about you.”

Instantly her grin vanished, replaced with a frown. “What?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Natasha glared. Sharon headed toward the door. “Come on,” she said. “I think we have a kidnapping plan to put in order. I’ll drive.”

She stopped right before she stepped outside and turned back. For a second, Steve could almost imagine Peggy standing before him, eyes soft and encouraging, her smile warm and loving.

“We will have time to talk, Steve,” Sharon said. “I promise.”

“We will,” Steve said. “I’m going to hold you to it.”

And he was. With everything that was happening in their world right now, with everything that was changing and falling apart before their very eyes, that at least was one thing he was very, very sure about.

He turned back to Sam as the women disappeared into the afternoon sun. Sam was watching him carefully.

“You ready to do this?” Sam asked.

Steve smiled. “Yeah,” he said. “I really am.”


End file.
